In Her Shadows
by MusicChannySkyscraper
Summary: Tawni Hart would always be in the shadows of Sonny Munroe, especially when it came to the one boy who meant so much to them both... QTO spin-off. Rated T because the route story is rated T too. Reviews please! Peace x


**A/N: Hey, guys! I know, I reeeeeaaaally should be working on my multichaps. I'm working on it, I promise. But, seeing as I am, like, obsessed with writing QTO right now, I thought I'd get this one-shot up that's based in it! It's based in the week where Sonny guest stars in So Random, and sort of shows Tawni's feelings on the girl, because I know how much y'all hate Tawni after chapter 29 :P**

**Sooo... here it comes! Just a short, angst-y Tawni one-shot, cos I never write much about Tawni, and besides Channy, she's my fave character in the show! Don't let evil QTO Tawni fool you - I love Tawni :D**

**Enjoy! I don't own SWAC...**

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><p><strong><em>In Her Shadows...<em>**

She hated it.

She hated watching it. Watching her worst enemy walks circles around the boy she fancied. And the worst part? He fell for it. He fell for every little _stupid _quirk the girl had.

He fell for it, _hard_.

And she _hated_ that.

She watched with disgust as the girl smirked at the boy while he grinned right back, not knowing at all what this monster was capable of. _She _knew, of course, what she was capable of. She used to be the girl's best friend.

_Ha_. How stupid had she been?

Their friendship had been fine, until the brunette became all miserable. _Seriously_? And all Tawni wanted was to have a friend with no problems, no worries – a friend she could just have _fun _with. But of course, that miserable diva ruined _everything._

_Again._

And then, as if that wasn't bad enough, she betrayed her too! She joined a new drama show soon after Tawni had joined So Random, and had stolen So Random's number one ratings in a single week of being on air!

How. Dare. She?

And the worst part? She didn't even care. She didn't apologise to Tawni, she didn't see the problem. She just shrugged, flicked her hair back, and said;

"Who _gives_ a damn?"

_That_ was when _the_ Sonny Munroe was born.

Even her _name _was thought of by Tawni! 'Sonny' was all Tawni's idea. A nickname she and the original Randoms called her. And yet, she didn't even get credit for _that_. Then again, not like she wanted people to know she helped create that _thing. _

Not at all.

And it wasn't just a good friendship and a few ratings her old friend had taken away, oh _no_. That would be childish of Tawni to only be upset about those stupid little things. But Sonny Munroe had gone on to take _so much_ from Tawni – boys, friends, awards, _anything _and _everything. _And now?

Now she was stealing away _another _boy. But not just any boy.

A cast member. _Tawni's cast member._

Tawni Hart seemed to be destined to live _in her shadows._

And she _hated_ it. Once again, she was _losing_ to _Sonny Munroe_.

She watched the boy she liked - _Chad Dylan Cooper_, his name was - as he pretended that he didn't _really _like the viper of a girl. He _pretended _that he was on the Randoms side, but Tawni had seen them hanging out before. She knew they were friends, for sure. Or at least that they were getting along. That was _not_ supposed to happen. Chad was a Random_; _Sonny was supposed to be _nothing_ to him. Well, she _was_ a Falls girl. _The _Falls girl. _Melody_ from Melody Falls – their rival. The _enemy_.

He was _not _supposed to get on with her.

At _all_.

She watched as the two "fought". She could see that Sonny was just toying with him, playing with him. Maybe even _flirting _with him.

_Flirting? _

_See?_

Just another stupid thing Sonny had over her. She could just bat those tarantula-long eyelashes, say a few meaningless (to her, not to the boy) words. She'd spit out her poison with her serpent-like tongue. She'd steal and she'd lie and she'd kill. She would destroy the good, kind boy that she started with and leave him there, changed, hurt, reformed.

She _could not _see that happen to Chad Dylan Cooper.

Tawni imagined Chad in the aftermath of Sonny's destruction, in a dream a few nights ago. The boy in her mind strutted into the studio, sunglasses masking his eyes. A leather jacket and too-trendy jeans and a smirk fixed permanently on his usually-innocent face. Girls would fall for his swag, left, right, and centre. Tawni hated that image. Chad… having _swag_? It didn't _fit_.

The Chad in her mind raked a hand through his over-gelled, wind-swept hair. He grinned at Tawni, confidence radiating from him. She said hi to him, but he just blanked her, strutting straight past. He shoved a 'don't care' hand in his face, and Tawni tried to look past it, only to see him walk right into the arms of Sonny Munroe.

Her arms dropped to her side. She was crestfallen. She didn't care if this was a dream or not – it was _awful _to see this happen to Chad… he didn't fit this persona her mind had thought up.

She watched Dream Chad as Dream Sonny rejected him. She felt like she was watching a soap opera, dramatic, upsetting. _Horrific_ for the character. _Horrific _to see him suffer. The boy's face fell, and he dropped his eyes to the floor, before throwing his sunglasses to the ground and storming out of the room. She couldn't handle watching the pain, the hurt…

She _couldn't_ let it happen to the real Chad. _She couldn't... she could not..._

"_Tawni_!"

"Huh?"

The blonde's head shot up, and she looked around to see everyone looking at her. Sonny was smirking at her rudely, which annoyed the girl. How she _hated_ this girl and her sarcastic ways…

"You okay?" Nico asked the blonde, sounding worried. The truth was he had always had a crush on his cast mate, but he had noticed the looks Tawni gave Chad. He was as aware as anyone, that Tawni clearly already had plans with someone (_Ha. Chad, of course_). Or, at least, she was determined to have those plans. Which meant any other boy was, unfortunately for Nico, off her radar.

Even him. Even though he'd been dancing around her since the moment he'd stepped in the studio.

It was clear, though, that Tawni was not interested.

"I'm fine." Tawni snapped at the boy. She did not like being interrupted from her thoughts.

"You look pretty whacked." Sonny snorted rudely, getting up from her seat next to Chad on the couch and flouncing off to rehearsals. Chad got up and followed the girl like he was under a spell, which made Tawni even more furious.

How _dare _she trick him away like that?

_How. Dare. She?_

She was doing at _again. _She knew Sonny had done something or other to lead Chad to be so enchanted as to follow her.

Another poor, unfortunate soul had been placed under Sonny Munroe's spell.

_Poor, poor, Chad Dylan Cooper._

As Tawni got up, she felt an arm wrap itself around her back, and she looked to see Nico smiling friendlily at her. She smiled back at him, as the rest of her remaining cast joined in the hug. They walked out together; a clump of friends. But even though the situation was light and happy, Tawni still could not shake the feeling.

She _had_ to save Chad. She _had_ to stop Sonny Munroe from enchanting Chad Dylan Cooper once again…

Before it was too late. Before he was too far gone. Before he had changed, for good.

She decided, right there, right then.

She had to scare Sonny away. It was her duty, as Chad's friend.

She may have always been in the shadows of Sonny Munroe, but that didn't mean she was powerless. She knew exactly what could get to Sonny – being her old friend had those advantages. She smiled to herself.

She knew. _Exactly_. How to safe Chad Dylan Cooper.

Finally. After being in Sonny's shadows for so long…

_She _would be victorious.

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><p><strong>AN: Reviews, please? If I get reviews, I'll update my multichaps faster. Deal?**

**And yes. This kind-of leads up to the massive fight in the latest chapter (chap 29 - Long Time Coming).**

**Hope you enjoyed it! I will ask for reviews once more before I say...**

**Peace! x**

**~Amy x**


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